High frequency, high performance radio frequency (RF) integrated devices, such as high frequency transistors or high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), may be fabricated using compound semiconductor. For example, to fabricate RF devices, epitaxial layers, such as gallium nitride (GaN), may be formed by a heteroepitaxial (epi) growth process that involves depositing GaN on a semiconductor carrier substrate having a different lattice structure (or lattice constant) than the deposited GaN, such as silicon, silicon carbide (SiC), sapphire, or other substrate. The lattice mismatch between the GaN and the carrier substrate may create defects, dislocations, and strains that may negatively impact device yields and performance. In addition, the GaN layers and carrier substrate may have different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs). Thermal processing (e.g., GaN epitaxial growth) can crack or delaminate the GaN, or bow and, in some cases, break the carrier substrate. The different CTEs may restrict substrate wafer size, limit scale, and prevent reduction of the overall manufacturing cost of RF devices and solutions.